


Prize Fight

by CommanderBayban



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Carnival, Carnival Games, Cats, Fighting over a cat plushie, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27106210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommanderBayban/pseuds/CommanderBayban
Summary: Peri and the Doctor visit a carnival and the Doctor wins a gcat plushie! Huzzah! That is until a bratty child comes along who wants the exact same prize...and, of course, there's only one available...
Relationships: Peri Brown & Sixth Doctor
Kudos: 2





	Prize Fight

_Ding ding ding! Yoooouuuu’re a winner!_

“Nice shot, Doctor!”

“Thank you, Peri,” he replied with a satisfied sigh, “And with three rings to spare!”

“What prize would you like, Mister?” The carny grinned and grabbed ahold of his colourful suspenders like an old 19th century tycoon.

“Ahh...” the Doctor scanned the available choices. Because the bottle ring-toss was considered a game on the more difficult side, all of the options were in the form of plushies, albeit in various sizes. There were small, handheld plushies of characters from popular television shows; giant bananas in Rastacaps; plump, spherical cows; and, “A-ha! That one!” he pointed to a stuffed calico cat large enough to consume a child-sized human. It sat upright and donned an adorable closed-eye smile complete with blushing cheeks. One ear flopped downwards and wrapped across its neck was a pink, polka-dot bowtie.

Peri crossed her arms and smirked, “Of course.”

_Ding ding ding! Yoooouuuu’re a winner!_

“I want that one! I want that one!” A boy no older than eight flailed his hands as he gestured towards the very same calico cat.

The carny looked up towards where the boy was pointing and grimaced, “‘Fraid there’s only one of ‘em left, boys.”

“ _I_ was first, thank you!” the Doctor snapped, his hands firmly placed on his hips, “It is _mine_!”

The carny laughed breathily, “You’re a grown man! Wouldn’t you like to give this child a bitta’ happiness? Put a smile on his face?”

“ _No!_ And quite frankly I don’t see what age has to do with it! Look,” he pointed to the little white cat brooch on his lapel, “You might say I am the _cat whisperer_ , and that cat—” he finger shot up towards the stuffed animal, “—is calling to me!”

The boy ripped open a king sized chocolate bar and stuffed it in his mouth, “I’d say you were a clown! Why don’t you go and paint my sister’s face instead of crying over a fake cat!”

The Doctor glanced at Peri with a look of sheer indignation before turning back to the child, “Crying? _Crying?_ I am not _crying_ over anything!”

Peri’s face contorted into a sheepish grin. She rested a hand on her companion’s arm, “He...he’s only a kid, Doctor....Just let him have it so we can leave…”

“A kid! _A kid!_ Good heavens, Peri, being a kid doesn’t excuse such petulant, inequitable behaviour!” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and glared down at the child, who looked up with an impish expression plastered upon his countenance. He noticed the boy had pockets full of sweets and his white shirt had various splotches of food stains, “You’ll get sick if you eat all of that,” he said, deadpan, “Then you wouldn’t be able to play with your new toy now won’t you?”

The boy chomped down on his bar again, the chocolate smearing across his top lip, “Why do you want a stuffed animal anyway!? You’re old!!”

“The old adage ‘respect your elders’ doesn’t ring a bell to you, I imagine?”

“No!”

“Didn’t think it would…” The Doctor scoffed, “The lack of parental guidance these days is astounding,” he said to himself.

“I want that cat! I want it and I want it now!!” The boy screeched as though trying to deafen everyone within a ten mile radius.

The carny threw up his hands and sighed heavily, “Look! This is what we’ll do: rock, paper, scissors. Three rounds…”

* * *

In the meantime, Peri had slipped away unnoticed. She beckoned towards an available carny whose face lit up upon seeing that he’d been called on by a lovely lady. She held up a glistening silver coin, “Excuse me? I’d like to play.”

* * *

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”

“Tie again? Three times too? I can’t believe it…” The carny doffed his bowler hat and wiped a ring of sweat from his forehead with a battered handkerchief.

The Doctor groaned, “This is lunacy. _I_ won first so the prize is rightfully mine! Peri was right when she said these games are all rigged…”

But the carny was convinced that they could not tie a fourth time, and implored that they say the magic words one last time.

“There! I won! Fair and _square_ ,” he chuckled to himself, “You see what I did there? Square? Because I won twice.”

The carny scratched his head and blinked; but the boy began to stomp his feet and scream. He jumped and kicked at the air like he was fighting an invisible monster, and in the process he dropped his candy bar—the gum-studded pavement around him soon turning into a puddle of brown liquid.

The carny winced and ushered for a fellow employee who was walking by to ‘take care of the little fellow’. With the child out of the way, his shoulders fell for the first time, “Let me just get your prize for you, sir,”

He grabbed his reaching claw, but when he turned around to grab the cat...there was only an empty space. The man’s heart started to palpitate and his eyes bulged out their sockets as they scanned the hanging plushies...but it was true: the cat was gone without a trace.

“I—I’m sorry, sir, I—”

“You snooze you lose, Doctor!” A giant calico cat burst out in laughter behind him. Disturbed (and for a brief second thinking it was that bratty kid), the Doctor stomped over to the anthropomorphic creature and pushed it aside, revealing the wide, cheesy grin of Miss. Peri Brown.

“Well! I don’t believe it!”

“Then don’t!” She swaddled the kitty against her chest and stuck out her tongue, “I won it and it’s mine!”

The Doctor stood dumbfounded. He clenched his teeth and groaned, “After all I’ve done…!”

“Now you’re beginning to sound like that kid!” She jested.

His face dropped, “Did you really do this to spite me?” his voice was almost a whine, “You know how much I wanted that cat…”

Peri frowned, “Oh, come on Doctor, you know I wouldn’t do such a thing.” She nudged the kitty into his chest and he snuggled it tightly in his arms like a child’s favourite comfort object, “I got it for _you_.”

“I must admit, that was very clever, Peri,” he said from behind the giant tri-coloured head, “Very clever indeed…”

They both exchanged winks and walked jauntily on to explore the rest of the carnival.

“But since it was technically mine first, I think _I_ should name it,” she teased.

“Absolutely not!”

“I was thinking of Eric. Or Butterscotch. Or—or what about Wilhelmina? Or…”


End file.
